Who is 'Shark' Thủy, and what kind of business did she run that led to her accumulating student loan debt?

An Apax Leaders center in District 5, owned by 'Shark' Thuy, has to close down - Photo: TRONG NHAN

On March 26, the police investigation agency initiated a criminal case and indicted Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thuy (also known as "Shark" Thuy). Before his arrest, what was "Shark" Thuy's business like?

"Shark" Thuy - Originating from education

Mr. Thuy was born in 1982 in Hanoi . In 2008, he founded Egame, the predecessor of Egroup Corporation, and began developing technology-based products for education.

In 2009, Egroup launched the game "Conquering the Exam ," a game that combines answering general education questions with preparing for university entrance exams.

From 2014 to 2017, the "Conquering the Exam" competition was organized by Egroup in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Training for students nationwide, but it was later discontinued due to conflicting opinions.

During the period 2017-2020, Egroup accelerated the development of its educational business products. The most notable example is the Apax Leaders chain of English language centers.

During its "golden age," this model had over 200 branches nationwide. Several other English education models of Egroup that flourished during this period included Englishnow, eKidEnglish, etc.

In 2018, Egroup, in collaboration with its Korean partner, continued to bring the CMS Edu Korean thinking skills training model to Vietnam. In addition, Mr. Thuy invested in and developed the STEAMe GARTEN bilingual preschool and partnered with Firbank Grammar School (Australia) to build a multi-level school model.

During this period, he participated as an investor in the reality TV show "Shark Tank" for two seasons, 2018 and 2019.

The nickname "Shark" Thuy also originated from that time. However, his investment deals were not successful.

Tuition fee arrears controversy

Entering the 2020s, 'Shark' Thuy began expanding his business model into real estate. Egroup calls this an investment model in "educational real estate" and considers it "a new direction, but also an inevitable trend to ensure the sustainability of educational investment activities."

Egroup's Apax Holdings investment fund has begun collaborating with real estate partners to "optimize and increase the asset value of educational properties in projects."

At the 2022 annual shareholders' meeting, representatives of Apax Holdings affirmed their determination to ensure the sustainability of Apax Holdings by moving towards owning premises for educational facilities after having built a relatively widespread system in many provinces and cities.

The slogan "McDonald's doesn't just sell hamburgers and 'Shark' Thuy doesn't just offer educational products" was also widely promoted on Egroup's platforms during that period, comparing it to a similar real estate business model used by McDonald's owner Ray Kroc in the 1950s.

In addition, according to Egroup, Apax Holdings has proactively acquired more than 7,000 ^{square meters} of land in Vinh Tuy ward, Hai Ba Trung district (Hanoi) to build Firbank Australia International School.

Apax Holdings also plans to invest in the Hong Quang Long Hai tourist resort project (Ba Ria - Vung Tau) to pilot the implementation of high-quality educational experience services.

Parents demanding tuition fees at Apax Leaders' Binh Thanh branch (Ho Chi Minh City) at the end of 2023 - Photo: TRONG NHAN

The period following the COVID-19 pandemic also marked the beginning of Apax Leaders' financial challenges: a shortfall in tuition revenue during the lockdown, the need to pay teacher salaries, and the maintenance of its vast network of locations across the country.

The fact that so many parents want to withdraw tuition fees they paid in advance for many years (usually 1-3 years), sometimes amounting to hundreds of millions of VND per student, because Apax failed to maintain its teaching commitments, also contributes to the company's financial imbalance.

On March 12th, in a report to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee regarding the situation of Apax Leaders English centers in the city, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training stated that, according to Apax, the amount of tuition fees that the center still owes to parents in Ho Chi Minh City is approximately 93.8 billion VND.

Outstanding salaries for teachers and staff up to February 2023 amounted to 11.5 billion VND, rent for premises was 9 billion VND, and social insurance contributions totaled 31 billion VND for Vietnamese workers and 1.3 billion VND for foreign workers.

Charged

On March 26, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Security announced that Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thuy ("Shark" Thuy) had been prosecuted and temporarily detained for investigation into the crime of fraud and appropriation of property. In addition to Mr. Thuy, the Ministry of Public Security's investigative agency also prosecuted Mr. Dang Van Hien, head of shareholder relations at Egame Investment and Distribution Joint Stock Company, for the same crime.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/shark-thuy-la-ai-kinh-doanh-ra-sao-dan-den-no-hoc-phi-2024032614270778.htm